Carré is a producer, DJ, and co-founder of the label Fast At Work, originally from LA but now based in London. Her latest EP, Hibiscus, is out now on Tempa.
Bbyafricka is a rapper, poet, and model from LA; Carré is a producer, DJ, and co-founder of the label Fast At Work, also originally from LA but now based in London. Bbyafricka is featured on the title track from Carré’s new EP, Hibiscus — out now on Tempa —and to celebrate, the two got on the phone to catch up about it, and much more.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
Carré: How are you feeling about the response to “Hibiscus,” and also in general with the music you just put out?
Bbyafricka: Oh, my gosh, the response to “Hibiscus” has been so great. At one of my shows in New York, the DJ when I sent her my set list was specifically asking me for that song. And then my girlfriend’s manager was asking about the song, too, at my show in Toronto. I was like, Oh, my gosh, people really like this song.
Carré: I’m so excited about it still. I love just listening to it. When you sent back the first pass at it, just from the jump, it was so perfect. You got the vibe immediately, and I was like, Woah.
Bbyafricka: I’m so glad that you feel that way. Honestly, I always am nervous when I have to turn in a song or when I’m doing a newer sound that I haven’t done, because I don’t really know how the response will be. I’m always in my head too much. But I’m glad that it worked out and that you liked it from the jump. I didn’t really have to tweak it much at all.
Carré: Yeah, and I know that that doesn’t happen often. I mean, you’re the first person I’ve collabed with; this is the first time I’ve ever done this. So I felt lucky that it worked out that well. What have your experiences been like working with producers in the past? Do you have producers that you keep going back to, or how do you approach that when you’re looking for people to work with?
Bbyafricka: As my sound evolves, I do use newer producers that I meet and who match whatever wavelength I’m on in that moment. Then I also have ones that just can never do no wrong, so I’ll always be able to do something on there. Even if it’s just something fun that may or may not get released.
Carré: How long have you been performing, making music?
Bbyafricka: I started making music in 2017, but I was just kind of playing around with it at my dad’s studio. Then I started recording myself on my iPad and GarageBand, being shy in my bathroom and my closet recording stuff. And I would always write a lot of poems, so I would always have material. Then in 2018, I actually started releasing and went in the studio and had to work through the nerves. You can kind of still hear that I was nervous on my very first tape I ever released. But I think it adds character.
Carré: Totally. I feel like from the production side of things, I can hear how I’ve become more confident with each release, how it changes. And sometimes I listen to things and I’m like, Oh… Even though no one else can hear the things about it that feels like the old me. Someone will be like, “That’s my favorite of your songs!” and I’m like, “Oh, that feels like my baby producer era…”
Bbyafricka: Literally.
Carré: So, you said your dad’s studio — do you come from a musical family?
Bbyafricka: Yeah, my dad does music — or, he would do it for fun, kind of — and he knows a lot of music people. So he had a studio and I would go there and play around with one of his producer friends who would be there all the time. He would just put on these beats, and I would be with friends, and my dad and his friends, so I wouldn’t really be shy. He already knew that I would be able to sing, by my tone of voice I guess. Some people really have that talent with their ears. So from there, we just started practicing, and they really birthed Bbyafricka.
Carré: That’s so cool. And did you grow up in LA?
Bbyafricka: Yeah.
Carré: Nice. I’m from Humboldt County, way up north. But my dad’s from LA, and my grandma lives in Long Beach. I was there for 11 years before I moved to London a year ago.
Bbyafricka: Yeah, I was about to say, I don’t know why I felt like you were in London.
Carré: Yeah, I live in London now. I was in LA for all that time, and I had wanted to move here for music reasons. I moved here on an artist visa. But, yeah, I’m very far from home.
Bbyafricka: That’s cool. I’ve never been to London, but I’ve always wanted to go.
Carré: I love it here. London has such a cool energy. Obviously you go to New York and it has a really specific energy; I think London also has that, but London is huge, and it’s like every neighborhood is its own city in a way. It’s also kind of calm. In a way, it’s an easier transition moving from LA to here than LA to New York.
Bbyafricka: For sure. Because New York just has a chaotic energy. I don’t know why London does feel calm to me.
Carré: Yeah, I feel pretty relaxed here. I also think that America is kind of a crazy place to live, so when you leave, you’re like, “Yeah…”
Bbyafricka: “Wow, this is how life was intended to be…”
Carré: [Laughs.] Yeah. You know, there’s plenty wrong with the UK, for sure. I also just saw sun for the first time in, like, two months. I’m getting used to that.
Bbyafricka: So, I wanted to know how you came up with making the beat [for “Hibiscus”] and what inspired you for the sound.
Carré: My process for making music is pretty experimental. I feel like I’m experimenting every time with different sounds. Obviously it’s all been rooted in this UK-influenced dubstep sound, like this 140 stuff. But also, I think without really trying to [sound like it], I do love hip hop; there’s also that fact that I am American. So I think there’s this wide mix of influences, and I started making music that’s somewhere maybe in between.
Bbyafricka: You’ve combined both vibes. Found your niche.
Carré: Yeah, I think so. And making something that then works with vocals — what we made, I never would have even expected that I could make something that would be so sick. [Laughs.]
Bbyafricka: I think that’s why it’s so good, because we both did something that’s kind of new, and we weren’t expecting it to be such a good turnout.
Carré: Yeah. And I like the other things that people pick up on it, like journalists from different backgrounds who have a completely different context. Everyone’s sort of trying to make sense of it, and I think that’s been really fun to read. Right before release, I just remember being like, “I kind of don’t know what this sounds like,” in a good way. I was like, “I don’t have a direct comparison.” Neither of us were like, “Let’s make a thing that sounds like this.”
Bbyafricka: Right.
Carré: It was both of us experimenting, just messing around with different sounds. And now I’m so hooked on the idea of writing stuff that could leave room for vocals. It’s so exciting to me. I hope to do more of that. I’d love to make another track with you down the road.
Bbyafricka: We have to. I think the people are literally gonna be waiting with pitchforks if we don’t.
Carré: They need it. Your voice just also is such a perfect match for the vibe that I go for when I’m making music.
Bbyafricka: Thank you.
Carré: When I’ve talked to people about vocalists to work with, I knew it couldn’t ever be something too super pretty and song-y. That’s not the vibe of the music for me. Something about your voice and the music just sit really well together. Nothing really feels like it’s fighting.
You wrote the lyrics while you were in Joshua Tree?
Bbyafricka: Yeah. I was actually going through a writer’s block for a moment before then, and I felt like my brain wasn’t working and I couldn’t really think of any lyrics period, not even just for this song. And then I took a trip to Joshua Tree with my girlfriend and my sister and one of her friends, and I was just like, OK, I have to write to this. Writing is easier when I’m writing a song about my girlfriend or thinking about her, so I wrote little bits and pieces around the time I was there and a little bit after. I was just outside looking at the view, trying to find inspiration. Then I saw some solar panels and I was like, Hmm… And it just came from there.
Carré: It’s perfect. I loved it because as someone who’s from California, I know exactly what the vibe is of all of it. I was like, “Oh, yeah, you’re in Joshua Tree.”
Bbyafricka: I love how you can sense that, not even just from being from the same place, but from the song.
Carré: Yeah, totally. So have you spent most of your life in LA?
Bbyafricka: Yeah, literally my whole life. I’m from Inglewood. I moved around to Hawthorne, Lawndale, Encino. Now I’m in Canoga Park. So I’ve moved around a lot, but yeah, I’m just from LA.
Carré: Do you feel like you could see yourself wanting to go somewhere else, or do you feel like LA is home and the place where you find most of your inspiration?
Bbyafricka: I definitely love to travel, and I would love the idea of moving somewhere. It’s just, honestly, after this little tour I just did, I’ve never been so grateful for my city. I’ve never been so proud to rep Los Angeles. I’m always like, “I’m gonna move, I hate it here,” but now I’m just like, “Oh, my god, the sun is shining…”
Carré: [Laughs.] It’s so true.
Bbyafricka: I see what everybody’s talking about when they come from somewhere else. But I still have more places to travel. I feel like I’ll definitely find somewhere where I’m like, “Oh, I could spend the rest of my life here…” But I imagine it would be somewhere tropical in the long run.
Carré: She needs warm weather.
Bbyafricka: Yeah. But I feel like I would enjoy London, but maybe just for work and stuff.
Carré: I think you’d vibe with the varied energy… The dream is, we need to get in the same place so we can do the song.
Bbyafricka: Oh, my god. Can you imagine the song we’d make if we were actually together?
Carré: This will happen. I mean, I am coming back to LA a couple times this year, so we can actually make that happen… What else? Do you have any other questions for me?
Bbyafricka: Yeah. What’s your zodiac sign?
Carré: I’m an Aquarius, and then I’m a Cap moon, Sag rising.
Bbyafricka: Ooh, I’m a Cancer sun, Leo moon, Virgo rising.
Carré: OK! I do love a Cancer. I have so many Cancers in my life.
Bbyafricka: We just work… Thank you so much for talking and for wanting to work with me. I really appreciate that. We made something really great, and I’m really proud of it.
Carré: Me too. Can’t wait to meet IRL at some point.
